I had so much fun fishing this week, it’s hard to believe it’s November. I had a spectacular day on Omak Lake, had some fun at one of the Rock Island Ponds, and got out on Lake Chelan for kokanee.
I fished Lake Chelan for kokanee with my brother-in-law Tom Verschuren a couple of weeks ago. We started above the Yacht Club in the area known as the Stairs. We got a couple up there, but I wanted to see if there were fish down below Rocky Point. We found as many or more kokanee schools here than up above, so on Saturday we launched at Mill Bay and ran down there. We had a later start than the previous week, but got into a good bite, and kept busy getting fish.

We were fishing 60 to 80 feet deep on the down riggers and were running our back rods out to 100 feet with four ounce lead balls. We got the first four fish on the new Kokabow High Octane Blue Steel blade, with the Ravisher spinner. We switched out the blades on the other rigs, replacing them with similar colors and added a Ravisher to a couple of them. By noon we had double digit numbers of kokanee and then it slowed way down. We fished for another hour or so and wound up with 13 kokanee and a cutthroat when we headed back to the dock.

We talked to a couple of other anglers that had just come in that had been fishing way up lake, and they were getting limits. We’ll start earlier next time and try some areas around Mitchell Creek. This week’s photo is of a Lake Chelan kokanee and cutthroat with one of my favorite Kokabow Tackle rigs.

My neighbor Calder Fiske celebrated his 10th birthday last week. One of his goals this past year was to catch a catfish, and I had given him some catfish baits and rigs as a gift. Last Friday, Calder, his Mom and Dad, his sister and a couple of his friends met my wife Eileen and I at Putters Pond in Rock Island. The lake is populated with multiple species and catfish is one of them. I put out a couple of rods baited with a wad of nightcrawlers and the kids had a blast running around casting all kinds of different lures. I was walking along with one of Calder’s friends, and he said, “You know, it doesn’t matter if we catch a fish. Fishing is such a fun activity.” What a great attitude for a youngster! We didn’t get Calder’s catfish on this trip, but we’ll try another day.

My friend Mike McKee has fished Omak Lake with me and wanted to plan another trip. We were able to do just that on Wednesday of this week. We used the launch at Nicholson Beach, which is the only one available right now. This requires four wheel drive as it is steep and very much unimproved. I had purchased my Colville Tribal Access Permit and annual license earlier this year, but I needed to get online and get a launch permit. Mike got a one-day license online, too, for ten dollars.

Why do we go to all this to fish Omak Lake? Read on. We ran down to our favorite fishing area, which is at the eastern end of the 10 mile long lake. We dropped large plugs down to an average of 80 feet on the downriggers and I kept our speed at about 1.7 mph. We were busy. We caught and released 50 Lahontan cutthroat in five hours of fishing. The fish ranged in size from 14 to 19 inches. We have both landed much larger fish on Omak Lake but didn’t find them on Wednesday. We were the only boat on the lake that day, which isn’t unusual.

The heavy rains that fell in Leavenworth recently had the desired effect on the coho fishing. Lots of fresh fish have moved into the Icicle River, and anglers are having terrific success. I talked to several anglers late last week and witnessed good catches of very nice coho earlier in the week. Some of the more popular spots are off East Leavenworth Road and below the deadline near the hatchery. I have seen coho rolling in the Icicle since I started fishing it three weeks ago, but nothing like what I saw last week. Fish are splashing and rolling all over the river and you can see the dorsal fins of fish pushing up through the shallow spots.

I have been in the habit of getting to the river at first light, but that isn’t necessary now. You can catch these fish all day long. I visited the river yesterday at about 11 o’clock and there was plenty of room in the stretch below the hatchery. Jigs are still the preferred lures to cast, but they are willing to chase a spinner now. Bright oranges and pinks are still the best colors. It’s game on for the Icicle coho fishery!

I want to remind anglers that many of the lakes in the region close to fishing at the end of October. Be sure to check the Washington Sport Fishing Rules Pamphlet before you head out to one of your favorite lakes. There are a tremendous number of lakes that are open year-round or have a special winter fishing season. There are still plenty of opportunities for those who like to fish our lakes this time of year. Traditionally, Roses Lake near Lake Chelan, gets a big plant of catchable rainbow in November every year. I also noticed that Patterson Lake, near Winthrop, got a plant of bigger-than-usual rainbow in mid-October. Patterson is on my list for ice fishing this winter so I hope some of those big rainbow will be there when I go.

The last two trips I made to Lake Chelan reminded me that we have so many beautiful fall and winter days in our region. I have packed a heater along in the boat and have yet to fire it up. Fall and winter fishing for a variety of species can be terrific this time of year. I am going to try to take advantage of as many of them as possible, and I hope to see you out there, too!